TORONTO, ONT.CANADA -- Before signing up for Comwave VOIP Telephone Service - Read first:
Comwave customer reviews on internet. Read also text below that highlights my own personal experience during the year 2012 with Comwave.

After 10 months of frustrations with low quality and 2 times total disruption of service with 3 weeks of unsuccessful attempts to get my telephone service restored, I decided to return back to Bell Canada for telephone service.

They closed my account and are asking $584.92 as a penalty for wanting to leave Comwave and get phone with Bell. The fact that my telephone was totally dysfunctional during the month of December 2012 means nothing to them.

Some say that Comwave is an East Asian company established, managed and financed by people from Pakistan.

In their promotional Video they make many promises. Unfortunately these promises were broken in my experience. They didn't accept responsibility for poor quality of service and poor customer and technical support. Every time I phoned to get tech. support it took often 30 to 45 minutes or even more. Because VOIP phone was not working, I had to use my Cell phone to call customer support tel. number. Many attempts were made but finally it came to the point that it was my Modem, my Internet or my DECT 6.0 telephone that need to be replaced and not their VOIP adapter.

â¢ Comwave Sound quality =2. (bad)
We got too many complains from friends and family about Voice ECHO, static noise, broken words, long pauses, Many missed and dropped calls.
Call display did not work reliably.
Answer from Comwave? We are working on improving sound quality.

â¢ Comwave customer and technical support =2. (bad)

Long wait times (10- 25 minutes.) After waiting for 15 or more minutes connection is often cut off. Customer Support Reps do speak English the best they can often hard to understand but worst they give inaccurate information just to get rid of you. Customer support people are spread across East Asia and South America. (To name just few: Philippines, El Salvador etc.)

All tech support is done by phone from far way. If your phone is not working than you must get another phone to call them.
I was put on hold for the next available representative and 20 minutes later connection was cut off.
â¢ Their only advice 99% of time is: reset your Modem and VOIP device by disconnecting from power, wait few minutes and problem will be solved. In my case it did not work and I told the person: " This was done many times. It does not solve my problem"
â¢17 days of continuous calling for tech support and they never solved my problem. I was not able to make phone calls and I was not receiving phone calls. All incoming phone calls were going directly to Voice mail without ringing.

They blamed my Internet service provider (BELL) , my new telephone was defective, my modem was defective etc. Yet, they expected to be paid even when they were not able to deliver normal telephone service.

â¢ Comwave Voicemail service= 1 ( bad)

All incoming tel. Calls were going directly to Voice Mail but telephone did not show that I had a message. It was necessary to check e-mail.

â¢ Cancelling service and switching to another service provider =0 (bad)

â¢ When I ask to cancel my subscription for tel. service after nearly a month of being without phone service I was told about major hassles ahead that I will have go through.

Once you subscribe to their service, You no longer have freedom to choose another service provider. You will lose your tel. number and with new service provider start with new tel. number.

Comwave hides their Legal Disclaimer into tiny size print that new subscribers do not get to see.

Once you sign up after 30 days you into a 3 years Long term Contract without you knowing it.

If after many weeks of frustrations with the poor telephone service you wish to cancel and move your telephone to another service provider like Bell or Rogers.
â¢ First, they will tell you that you cannot cancel the service because you have a contract. Contract is by default the moment you sign up and not cancel the service within 30 days.

Customer enters into the contract by Default after 30 days. but verbal only They are recording your answers to certain questions. They say that they have a recorded message saying that you agree to their conditions before they sign you up. The word contract is never specifically mentioned.
â¢ When I asked Comwave to cancel my service subscription within 3 months by default you automatically enter into a 3 to 5 year contract. There are no documents to sign. Your communication with the Comwave sales department is recorded.

For cancelling my subscription to Comwave because of the poor service I received, they ask to be paid sum of $587.00 with no explanation. One can see that it is the amount customer would pay if he or she stayed for the duration of contract.
â¢ MY OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH COMWAVE SERVICE = 1 ( very bad)

It seems to me that their primary purpose is not to provide excellent service serve but to recruit new subscribers by making big promises and then they will to get your $$$$ whether you stay or you cancel subscription. This company lures people to sign up with cheaper price and many promises. When you are not satisfied and want to cancel they will insist on payment of the amount for the full contract duration. Thus they Win the moment you bite on their hook.

We DIS-SATISFIED CUSTOMERS NEED TO FILE A CLASS ACTION AGAINST Comwave.com and get Investigative reporters to look into Comwave business practices.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Comwave Communications INC. IT IS A Pakistani International Technology Company operating in Toronto,ONT, Canada

Posted by Etien on 01/31/2013

Rating: 1/51

This company has been operating in Toronto for about 10 years promising
low cost VoIP phone service in USA and Canada.

The Comwave company has its base in Pakistan and operates there in many cities and regions in Pakistan.

North American branch of Comwave is registered under
Comwave Communications INC.
and its address is reported to be:
61 Wildcat Rd., Toronto, Ontario M3J 2P5
Tel 416-663 9700 www.comwave.net

Comwave business practices in Canada seem to be on the edge between
minimally legally acceptable and fraud and deception.

Main business of Comwave in North America is selling low cost telephone service using VoIP internet technology.

North America (USA and Canada) offers Pakistan Technology Company
almost unlimited customer base.

Comwave advertisement campaigns appeals to wide spectrum of lower and middle class people who are searching for ways to save few dollars here and there on TV, Telephone, Internet etc.

Signing up is easy. Just make one toll free phone call and start saving $$.

Well trained sales agents are polite and give you impression that you are in good company. Problem is that they have incentives to convert every caller to a customer and they withhold critical information
from callers. They will agree and promise everything that they sense you want to hear.
No contract, 6 months free, free testing period, quality telephone service, 24 hours 7 days a week Customer Care and Technical support. Try it with no obligation etc.

The moment caller gives personal details and opens an account he or she is told that Comwave will send them a device that they will have to connect to their Modem and will be able to start using their new lower cost phone.

Problems with phone and connection started about 5 weeks after signing up.

Its at this moment that myself and many others discover serious problems not just occasionally but very frequently during each day. The quality of telephone service will vary from poor to extremely poor with short periods of total disruption of telephone service.
People complained that they cannot understand that words were fragmented, long pauses, static noise, ECHO while on the line.
Trying second time it worked for few minutes and the same problem started again.
Comwave technical support will advise you to disconnect your Comwave device and Internet and wait few minutes and reconnect it again and they say: PROBLEM will be solved.
Unfortunately it may be solved only for few minutes and then you have to repeat this procedure which they call "DEVICE RESET".

I had to do this RESET many times during each day I was with Comwave.

I picked up the phone and there was no dial signal. Then after resetting device I got a dial signal but when I dialed the number I did not hear ringing.

Incoming calls were going directly to my Voice Mail box without and notification. The only way to hear a message was to go to my email address. Simply said. Total disaster.

To call tech support I had to go to my neighbor or a public phone
because my phone did not work. I met all requirements for having good reliable and quality telephone service.
1. High speed internet ( 10 Mbps)
2. Quality PANASONIC DECT 6 telephone.
All was working fine first 5 weeks.

When I called tech support repeatedly I probably was marked as a "COMPLAINER" and was put on hold for indefinite amount of time, periodically someone come and say: We are sorry for the delay.. please hold for few minutes and someone will be with you as soon as possible. Once I was waiting 93 minutes and nothing was resolved.
I complained and told them that I cannot continue with COMWAVE its just not practical and it is frustrating not to have reliable phone service at the house. I was told that that I am on the 3 years contract and I cannot leave unless I pay Early Cancellation Fee which will be calculated by the accounting department.
I was also told to give them more time. They are continually working on improving service quality. I said OK I will give you more time.

Then I was told to be at home that their specialist will call me to find what the problem was. He will solve it. I was told.
I had my Cell phone and my friend lent me MagicJack. Through MagicJack I could use my phone. Comwave specialist spent 5 hours
and during this period I was asked to reset my Modem and Comwave Device more than 10 times. At 10:20 pm we called it quit.

His report to the Comwave management was that the problem is in my Bell Canada Modem and my telephone. I was asked to change it and they have offered me their Modem and internet service to replace Bell Canada Internet service. for the monthly cost of about $54.00 plus installation and new modem which was close $300.00.
My Bell Canada Internet and modem worked perfectly yet they wanted to replace it with theirs by I think creating problem scenario to motivate me to buy their Internet and phone from Comwave.
I refused and asked repeatedly for closing my account because they are not able to provide service that they promised during the signing as a customer of Comwave. I was told that I will have to pay in full amount that is equal of 36 monthly payments.
When I explained that I was breaking the contract because the company failed to maintain the quality of service they are promising to customers.

Their reply was: Comwave is not responsible for quality of telephone service and poor service or disrupted service is not a legal ground for closing the account.

I am legally responsible to the Comwave to pay the full amount as if everything was OK. If I do not pay my account will be transferred to the Collection Agency and there will be additional penalty added to the amount with other consequences such as damaged credit rating etc.

Later, I was advised from some of my contacts with others to get a copy of a document titled:
(COMWAVE) LEGAL DISCLAIMER.

COMWAVE LEGAL DISCLAIMER. (15 printed pages).

In their Legal Disclaimer they declares that:

By signing for the Comwave telephone service customer agrees with
all Comwave terms and conditions.

This document is not mentioned or given to potential customers to read and sign.

Signing up and opening account is all done via telephone with sales agents spread all over in East Asia (Pakistan, Philippine etc).

Sales agents may have financial incentives converting callers to customer.

They promise anything and everything. They do not tell the caller the truth.

Example: Is there a contract that I need to sign?
Answer: No. There is no contract to sign. You can terminate your service anytime and you need to call customer care center who will be able to help you with termination of service.

Comwave legal disclaimer contradicts what sales agents say:

Legal Disclaimer states: Subscriber automatically by default enters into a 3 years contract. Termination of contract is not possible unless subscriber pays the amount calculated by the accounting department.
It further states that Comwave does not provide any telephone services. Comwave is only a marketing company for different manufacturers of telephone equipment.

It states that that disruption, discontinuation or poor quality of service does not give subscriber a ground for terminating service contract with Comwave.

Comwave has the right to discontinue and lock the service if subscriber has unpaid balance of any amount.

With the Legal Disclaimer as written, Comwave aim is to get maximum number of subscribers by promising everything under the sun, knowing that subscribers are locked into one sided 3 years contract by default and they will have to pay the amount worth of 3 years (36 months) regardless if they stay or leave by paying so called Early Cancellation FEE (ECF).

Comwave Pakistani executives see north Americans (USA and Canada)as a rich source subscribers who can be intimidated bu threats to pay Comwave for poor service or no service once they agreed to subscribe.

COMWAVE must be stopped.

They must be forced to present their TERMS and Conditions in writing and ask for signature as Bell and Rogers etc. There cannot be any exception for Comwave.

If person signs the Terms and Conditions which clealry says that Comwave is not responsible for quality of service,
penalty for Early Cancellation should be maximum 3 monthly payments.
With Legal Disclaimer Comwave executives believe that they have legal rights to extort money from dissatisfied customers.
When they have a guaranteed payments that equals 36 months regardless of service Comwave does not need to care about providing quality of service.

They need to do everything to lure potential customers and agree to try it for free and then lock them into 3 years contract by default with automatic contarct renewal without him or her knowing it.

This type of business policies may be OK in Pakistan but Comwave Legal Disclaimer does not not place Comwave above Canadian laws for Consumer protection.

Affected Comwavce consumers need to organize and initiate a CLASS ACTION against business practices of Comwave. If they want to operate in Canada they must hide their Legal disclaimers but present it in writing to every would be customer to read it before agreeing to sign up as subscriber of Comwave service.

We need to find "Investigative Reporters to write articles and produce videos about Comwave unethical business practice.

Only that type of organized action may lead Comwave to change its policies and practices in Canada and USA.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Unethical Dealings

Posted by PaulPL on 06/02/2012

Rating: 1/51

MISSISSAUGA, OREGON -- I also had a very bad experience with Comwave and my advice to everyone is avoid them completely. They employ people that are willing to lie and play with words just to get some of your money to their own bank account.

They really advertise a free 6 months free trial, as stated in previous review, the first 3 you are able to cancel service without questions, they say. Guess what? They charged me over $70 and there is nothing I can do about it.

My phone connection was not that bad, bigger problem was that their system was not compatible with my alarm system, so I would have to buy out of my alarm contract and get another company. That would cost me dearly. I was also not able to get phone signal to the other rooms in my house, maybe their signal is somehow weaker than of my previous provider's and wiring in my house did not comply with it.

Anyhow, after 24 hours I canceled and got back to my old company.
My 24 hours with them cost me two times shipment charges of modem to me and then back and another 60 bucks in 'fees'. When I argued with their representative and two supervisors that everything should be free for three months. Did I not, after all, specifically asked at least five time about about any extra charges before I sign up and repeatedly I was assured that there are none? Now these people in different department are saying: 'Yes you asked about EXTRA CHARGES but these are FEES. All conversations are on their records but really it is for nothing good to me.

Can you believe it? What jerks? Stay away from them completely, you never know what kind of trick they are going to pull on you.
Paul Deutsch

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Do Not Get Comwave

Posted by Bea on 10/30/2012

Rating: 1/51

MISSISSAUGA -- If you are thinking about getting com wave service.... Please don't.

I used it for 20 days and realized that its using too much of my Internet data so I decided to cancel the services. I called them to ask how to return their device as I do not want to continues with them. A CSR told me that they have already charged my credit card for $56 without my authorization. I did not have a contract with them, they offered me 1 month free trial, I paid $14 as shipping charges for the device + $56 for I don't even know why and now I have to pay to return the device. I got my refit card company involved, but no use.....
I been on the phone all day and there was no one to resolve the issue. My credit company suggested to cancel my current credit card so they do not withdraw more money.

I HATE Comwave.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Don't give you all the facts.

Posted by samtam123 on 10/12/2012

Rating: 2/51

STONEWALL -- When I first read up some info on Comwave and having high speed internet it sounded like a sweet deal. well first of all thy could not give me a local phone number, as I lived out of their big city places such Winnipeg. I then told com wave I live in a small rural town just 20 miles from Winnipeg. they said that it was a no go for anyone in my hometown, or near to call me without a long distance charge to them. not real impressed now. I could call anyone from my phone at no cost anywhere in Canada though. now I said I don't have a land line and therefore they could not issue me a same number which then voids the 6 months for free by 3 months. I then said I don't want to lock into a contract with them for 3 years and then they took my remaining last free 3 months. after paying the freight on their modem which was $12.60 taken immediately from my Visa card I then was an official member. I received my first invoice and paid it on time in the amount of $24.69 via Visa. I then received another invoice for $50.00 the following day for their silly little modem to be in my possession. they never once told me I would be charged this extra $50.00.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Stay Away From Comwave

Posted by Arcadio on 04/27/2013

Rating: 1/51

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- April 27, 2013.
I had scheduled installation for the trial period of 30 days on April 25, 2013. I told Comwave that I am only available 7-9pm and this was what we have agreed upon. I called them four time prior to installation just to make sure that our agreement on schedule would be followed. Still they installed something outside the house in the afternoon without my presence and permission. I complained because they have not completed the installation and testing of the modem. No one knows here how to install them. After my complaint they are now charging me a miss appointment fee. Now they started invoicing me for the internet that was not installed. I was surprised because during our discussion about phone and internet bundle trial for 30 days and they said it was for free. When I complained they said it was only for the phone which was on free trial but not for the internet.
Even if I still don't have my service, they are offering me a $2/mo extended warranty.

Then they tell me that I have to deposit $100 for the phone & modem security fee (refundable). I was so surprised because these has not been discussed with me even when I called them several times prior to supposed installation. With these bad reviews about Comwave, I decided to cancel my trial period which I never used because phone and internet were never installed. They can charge whatever amount they want to charge me and I will raise dispute with my Visa card for these charges.

MONTREAL, MINNESOTA -- COMWAVE.NET a subsidiary of Roger advertise in internet that home phone is $ 14.95 monthly and also 6 months free. They do not tell the customers that this phone service should be used with internet and if you want to use the phone your internet should be open 24 hours.

Also they advertise if you are NOT satisfy with service cancel it in one month with no charges.

People who used the service said that you can NOT use the phone and internet at the same time, one should be disconnected.

They took your credit card to charge for devise over 13 dollars. When you receive the device and want to send it back give you wrong address and device get back to you and you try again with another address and pay twice postage plus $13 nonsense in advance.

(Their address and place they send the device and returning place is not the same.)

This period you do not have home phone line and when you contact the old supplier to get back the number comwave.net asked for $ 57.50 to give the number back to old supplier.

Your phone number is blocked and you BLACKMAIL, to release the number for previous supplier you have to pay another $ 57.50

I did not use their service and according to their advertisement you are eligible to cancel the deal without any charges, but I lose around 90 dollars and still I donât have phone line.

When you talking with their representative you are contacted with India and do not understand the language. Also they said if customer do not sent back the device in 30 days we charge credit card $ 50. But on my case I send it back in one day.

They took my phone number on Jan 02 and cancel it few days later but up to 12 March 2013 Videotron was NOT able to get back the number and fix the problem.

COMWAVE. NET phone number in internet is 1-866-769-8710 & 1-866-5181049 and their e-mail for cancellation The service is here as a witness and testimony.

False advertisement and stealing money from people look like is an ART in this country that
Should be stop. I sincerely recommend all the people do NOT go for cheap and fishy business
To lose your times and money then learn an experience. Read it to believe it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear MOSTAFA LOUIE Per your request, your Comwave Home Phone service has been cancelled. We are sorry that we were unable to satisfy your needs and hope that you will consider Comwave for your future telecommunications needs. Please make sure to return the home phone adapter within the next 30 days. The adapter must be returned in its original condition and include the original power supply and cables. We recommend you ship your package using a traceable service. Your Return Authorization (RA) # is: RA# 79145 Please ship the Home Phone adapter to the following address with the above RA#(âs) clearly indicated: Comwave RA#: 79145 PO Box 22 Toronto, Ontario M3M 2Z9 To ensure there are no additional charges to your account, please make sure we receive your package within 30 days of this email. A $50 disconnection fee will be charged in the event your package does not arrive in 30 days. Thank you for choosing Comwave. We look forward to earning your business again in the near future. Comwave Customer Service www.comwave.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir: When you cancel the service and confirm it by e-mail and received your device on 4th of Jan,2013
why not give back the number to videotron, Montreal.
it, s 2 months I don, t have phone service because of your mistake.
please contact Videotron technical support tel:514-841 2611 and let them know the number was not used
and you did not provide service for my phone number 514-733 7623 and cancel it after 2 days

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Bad Customer Service

Posted by Chingas on 09/22/2012

Rating: 1/51

TORONTO -- Well after signing with Comwave and after many calls to their technical support, it was determined that their service would not work in my home as I am using DSL. To make it work I would have to set up a "Dry loop" line or something to that effect. This would add an additional cost making the service more expensive.

Note that they never stated in any of their literature that there are conditions when you have DSL service.

So, of course, I cancelled the service. However, I was called away because of a family medical emergency and was unable to return the modem within the 30 days. I called their customer service immediately after I got back and explained the circumstance. They said that I will still be charged a $53.89 fee for the device. I spoke with numerous people and in the end none of them cared to consider my circumstances and just wanted the money.

I did not return the device because we were still back and forth on whether I would be charged. Finally someone called from their office and said that I can return the device and they will cancel the charge. So I did return it to their Downsview, Ontario office and got a confirmation note.

After a month I notice the charge on my Visa. I called them back and spoke with Karen employee# 1175. I explained that I returned the device and I was told that I would not be charged. She said that since I returned the device she will apply the credit. Ten days later no credit so I called them again. This time they said that they will not be giving me the credit.

These people have no conscience, you can't believe what's promised by their representatives, and they definitely don't give a crap about their customers as long as they get their money.

Luckily the transaction was done via PayPal. I disputed the charge with them and PayPal ruled in my favour.

Comwave suspends your account once they see a request from another service provider that you want to switch your phone service to another service provider without notifying you first. They will say we tried to contract you by phone, left a voicemail, but of course by the time you get home, you can't retrieve your voicemail since they've already disconnected your number.

They will insist that all these problems are outlined on their terms and conditions online.

They well insist that all these problems have been emailed to you on their welcome letter.

After spending one hour and 18 minutes on the phone, you are left with spending $50, otherwise you don't get your service back & you will lose your number!

Despite talking to a supervisor named Patrick who forwarded me to his manager's voicemail, Gloria, there is nothing they can do.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

EPhone service for PC sucks

Posted by Bruce on 12/11/2012

Rating: 1/51

QUALICUM BEACH -- I have a PC and could not try the free ePhone trial on a mobile device. Like a fool I paid $33 for the service with a Nanaimo, BC number. My internet connection isn't super but I regularly make calls with Google Voice and their quality is fine. The voice quality using ePhone is horrendous. Most of the calls dropped and when I could get through to my friends the quality was so bad they could only make out a few words I said. I did a phone quality test and the results were poor. I asked for my money back but was told that since they have a free trial for the ePhone (they do for mobile devices but not a PC) they would not refund my money. As I had paid through Paypal I have opened up a dispute through them.